Banks can’t make foreign payments, face additional charges
ATMs run out of money as refilling turns troublesome
Banks may have to pay additional interests against their payments related to letters of credit (LCs) and repayment of foreign loans because of internet blackout and general holidays announced by the government for an extended period.
A senior official of a private bank told TBS today that if any bank fails to make any foreign payment, it is penalised with additional charges. "Interests are charged for delays based on the number of days. Presently, 8-9% interests are imposed for such delay. So, banks now may have to face additional charges."
Selim RF Hussain, MD and CEO of BRAC Bank, told TBS, "We may have to face trust issue with foreign banks due to correspondence outage. We may face a large-scale image crisis abroad [if the situation continues]."
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He said when the banks reopen, they will pursue foreign banks not to impose additional charges, arguing that the delay was not intentional. "The foreign banks are aware of our situation. We hope that they will consider our plea."
Central Bank Spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque told TBS, "The banks will deal the situation like in the past when they remained off [for an extended period] because of public holiday."
ATMs mostly empty
Banks are now keeping most of their ATMs closed as they could not be refilled with money amid the ongoing curfew. A long queue is seen at the ATMs that are still open.
A visit to different ATM booths at Moghbazar and Noyatola, this correspondent found that money could not be withdrawn from nine out of 10. Of them, three were shuttered down.
"I used to make most of my transactions through bank apps or cards. As I cannot do so now due to the internet outage, I was looking for ATMs. But I could not withdraw money even after trying at three ATM booths," Md Jahangir, a customer in the queue in front of an ATM, told TBS.
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, MD and CEO of Mutual Trust Bank, told TBS, "We are facing trouble keeping even ATMs operational. We are prioritising security of our officers in refilling ATM booths."
